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Opinion

Tackling sensitive topics

Open-access content Wednesday 2nd June 2021
Authors
Dan Georgescu

This month we interview Kristian Niemitz, head of political economy at the IEA, who posits that there is a better way to organise a health system than the NHS, in order to deliver improved outcomes (p12). 

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As he recognises, this is an area of deep-rooted sensitivities and strongly held opinions; perhaps these are the very issues that need examining. We look forward to hearing what readers think.

In our cover article, Neil Mitchell, Claire Jones and Lisa Eichler look at what climate-related risk analysis might look like for pension schemes (p15). We fully support the authors’ aims, contributing to the work necessary to ensure that climate-related risk is understood and considered by actuaries in the same way as other major risks such as interest rate and mortality.

In the student section, Jason Brett writes his final column as a student editor, having been in the role for more than four years (p43). Unfortunately, he is now disqualified from further student contributions – as he has successfully passed his last exams. Congratulations, Jason, and thank you for all your work.

Finally, as this issue of the magazine went to press, we were informed that The Actuary stalwart Mahidhara Davangere had sadly lost his battle with COVID-19. Mahidhara was irrepressibly enthusiastic about the magazine and its potential for reaching actuaries everywhere, contributing articles, conducting interviews and participating in the Editorial Advisory Panel. It was hard to keep up with his many ideas or suppress a grin when he encouraged us to reach for the stars with another ambitious interview suggestion, all delivered with the best intentions for serving the next generation of actuaries. An obituary will no doubt appear in due course for a warm and generous man who made time to help everyone, and whom we will all miss enormously. 

Dan Georgescu, Editor

[email protected]

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This article appeared in our June 2021 issue of The Actuary .
Click here to view this issue

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